Mirages of Love
by writejoy
Summary: Summary inside. I was always content with being a street rat. Always content with being JUST Aladdin's best friend. But when i discovered a terrible secret of the palace, my world started turning upside down. Fairytales aren't for ordinary girls afterall
1. Prologue

_Ever wondered why it is that the princess always gets her prince in Fairytales._

_Fairytales are only for princesses and princes...aren't they?_

_What happened to the ordinary girl that is just like you and me?_

_Meet Karin. _

_She's a fesity, knife-wielding street rat who's like your everyday girl. __She's also Aladdin's childhood best friend. But when she unknowingly stumbles across a sinister scheme that has taken decades to put into place, will she be able to escape alive? _

_When she is faced the hardest decision she'll have to make, what will she choose? - her best friend or her greatest dreams come true?...Or could it be that her two choices aren't so seperate after all?_

_And what happens when the everyday girl finds out that her best friend is marrying a princess? Doesn't every girl deserve her own happily ever after?_

_But then again..._

_...what sane guy would ever choose a street rat over a princess?_

* * *

_For Karin_

* * *

**~Mirages of Love~**

_A Novella_

_"Hope is the expectation that something outside of ourselves, something or someone external, is going to come to our rescue and we will live happily ever after"_ - Dr Robert Anthony

* * *

-**Prologue**-

The first thing I remember about that night was how cold it was. Funny how you remember the most random things about a night that truly changes one's own life.

I was leaning against the wall of the goldsmith's shop, staring out at the dark, deserted streets. My only long, torn cloak was wrapped tightly around my body and head, doing a bare minimum to keep me warm. I let out a heavy sigh, pulling the cloth more tightly around me. If it had been morning, things would be different and I would not have been able to stand in such peace near a shop like this.

Street rat. That was what they called us. Absolutely unable to think of anything more creative, anytime we would pass a shop which had remotely expensive goods in it, the owner would be waving a sword at our faces and calling us that name. Street rat.

Being called it so many times, I had even responded to Street Rat a couple of times. Fantastic.

I was repeating those two words with disgust in my head over and over again, so much so that I did not notice that a person had been saying those words out loud until too late.

My legs then chest hit the cold, stone road with a painful crack before my wrists were twisted behind my back. A sharp, icy point against my neck sent a tingle up my spine.

Freaking dang. My life was _not_ supposed to end so unceremoniously.

"You die tonight, _Street rat_." The man spat those words out with such venom, it seemed almost possible to die just from his tongue.

There was one thing that I hated most in Agrabah. But this was not it. This was the _second_ thing which I hated most in all of Agrabah – id-faced men who slammed me unsuspectingly onto the ground and thought that it was absolutely okay to kill another person without any thought. Firstly, men like this thought that I was some helpless creature who could not defend myself. Secondly, they actually thought it was okay to kill people for no reason and get away with it.

Stupidheads.

"Get off me, Id-face!" I yelled, attempting to kick at his legs but missing on account of my face being buried into the ground.

Due to the fact that I had missed my admittedly failed attempt to attack the man and thus, set myself free, I had expected to be punched or cut. Instead, what followed was a moment of silence before a large hand grabbed a chunk of my hair and used it to pull my head up, off the ground.

"My, my, my. If it isn't a _female_ street rat." His breath was dusty and filled with the rich bouquet of some sort of expensive wine which could feed a whole family like mine.

So he was a rich, drunk id-face. Good to know.

It was not so much what he had said, though, that caused my breath to catch in my throat. Being pulled off the ground, I had been able to see for the first time, the menacing glint in this large man's eyes that bode anything and everything bad for a girl like me.

"You-you have no reason to kill me!"

I cursed myself for stuttering. His response, though, was only to let out one throaty laugh before grabbing my shoulders with both his meaty hands and ripping my whole body off the ground. The movement had been so abrupt, that everything became a blur as I lost my balance and fell into his chest, only to hear the rapid thud of the id-face's heart.

He let out another sadistic cackle before breathing into my ear, "don't worry, love. You won't die just yet."

Feeling the hairs at my ear tingle, I knew that enough was enough. One does not live on the streets without learning how to defend herself.

With a mighty cry, I suddenly elbowed him in the gut before turning around and kneeing him at his manlihood. The response was a highly satisfying yell of agony as he clutched his manlihood whilst eyeing me with a sudden madness. His mouth was set into an ugly snarl as he cursed under his breath through his pants of pain.

Moving a good distance away from him, I folded my arms across my chest and said with all confidence, "And that's why you _don't_ mess with Karin…_Id-face_."

I was so, thoroughly delighted with my achievement that I did not react when the man straightened and, with incredible speed for someone his size, pounced at me with outstretched hands and an angry yell.

A second later, he was on the ground at my feet, unmoving. All I could do was gape at the back of his balding head, wondering if all this had really happened. I put a hand to my chest, feeling my heart thud passionately against in and breathed in deeply. Sometimes being a "street rat" was just a little too exciting.

"Hey, Street rat."

My head jerked up as a jumped from the shock of hearing another voice. I had automatically moved into a fighting position, elbows to my sides and fists clenched in front of me only to see that it was…him…

Holding a very large rock, at that.

Seeing my fists fall to my sides, he shot me a crooked smile and threw the rock to one side, dusting his hands with such animation, that it seemed that he had just finished a great deal of work.

I couldn't help but grimace.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him accusingly.

He was moving towards me, tossing his long, annoying fringe out of his eyes so that he could stare innocently at me with his large, dark eyes.

"What do you mean, 'what are you doing here'?" He asked me in a hurt tone. He then motioned to the Id-face on the ground. "Without me, I think you'd be in really big trouble, Street rat."

"Don't _call_ me that!" I snapped at him, folding my arms across my chest. "And for _your_ information, I was handling in perfectly well _without_ your help."

"So much for gratefulness." He said with a sniff before absently glancing at his shoulder then back at me.

His motion reminded me of something.

"…where's Abu?" I asked him curiously. One thing I knew only _too_ well about him was that he never went anywhere without Abu at his side or on his shoulder. Abu had become like an extension of him and seeing him without his friend only made everything feel odd.

He took another step closer so that now he was only a foot away from me. The familiar smell of a mix of old clothes and fresh bread rushed over me, making my whole body quiver. Being here…being with him…reminded me of the many years we spent and kind of grew up together, braving the streets together. Without him, I knew, life would never be the same. He was like my shelter and my safest place. My older brother, best friend and loved companion all in one.

But if I only saw him as my best friend…why did I feel this way when he looked down at me with such depth and sincerity that it made me want to explode with a million times five thousand emotions?

Why did I feel this way? We had spent so many days stealing food for survival together. So many nights lying on the flat rooves of people's houses and staring at the bright stars above, wishing that we could explore every star in the dark sky. I had only felt tingles of warmth and happiness as one does when you're near a close friend. Jolts of excitement when he would touch my hand and point excitedly at a shooting star…

…could this all mean something?

No, that was crazy. No. Way.

"Karin?" His voice was low and soft yet it caused me to jump.

His dark eyebrows shot up and he asked, "Are you okay, Karin?"

"Of course I am." I snapped a little too spitefully.

He did not look convinced as he rubbed this back of his head and looked away from me into the night. Still not looking at me, he murmured, "ummm…Abu's not here because…because…I have something really important to tell you."

My jaw dropped. "What?!" Forgetting about the crazy feelings that had overwhelmed me a second ago, I grabbed both his broad shoulders and shook him madly. "What happened to Abu? Was he caught? Is he injured? Dang it, Aladdin, you dumbface, why can't you take better care of him?!"

"It's not that!" He shouted at me.

I let go of his shoulders immediately, gaping at him.

We had mock fights, sure. We teased each other and we argued for the sake of arguing.

But he had _never_ shouted at me that way before.

He must have seen the pain this caused me because he proceeded to stare at the floor and mumble an apology before sighing deeply.

"What is it, Aladdin?" I was whispering. Suddenly, for the first time that night, I was actually scared.

"He…he's in the palace."

I gasped. "In the _dungeon_ palace?? I _knew_ that your disappearance for a _two whole weeks_ meant something serious, Aladdin! What did you do?!"

"I did nothing, okay?!" He was yelling again, raising his arms in the air in frustration. Staring up at the sky, he let out a yell before staring me straight in the eyes with such force that I took a step back. "I'm marrying the princess. Princess Jasmine. We're getting married next week."

If it's possible for your heart to die and your body to live, my heart died that day.


	2. Best Friends

**-Chapter One: Best Friends-**

_Five months earlier_

My mother used to tell me that if you wanted something enough, you'd be able to get it. Why? Because if you were that driven and desperate for it, you'd put your heart and soul into it – blood, sweat and tears…until you got it. Otherwise, you'd be lying if you said you wanted it that badly…either that or you were just a coward.

If you wanted something enough…you'd fight for it. If you didn't, obviously you thought that thing wasn't worth fighting for.

Mother told me that when I was five years old. It was sunrise, the sun caressing the tips of the dark leaves of the palm trees so that the whole horizon was bursting with brilliance. I remember putting a hand over my eyes to stop the glare of the early morning sun as I stared up at her and pulled at her flowing skirt urgently. Fear was bursting within me as I asked her why she was leaving me with my hated aunt. She had paused for a moment before gracefully bending down and staring me straight in the eyes. With one swift movement, she took hold of my chin so that our faces were only inches away and with such clear conviction, she told me that she was fighting for what she wanted. She wanted to buy me pretty dresses and to live with my father and I in a nice house. And to do so, she had to leave with my father for awhile to help his merchant business.

Only for awhile, she had said.

The last I ever saw of her was her dark hair catching glimmers of the rising sun as she disappeared from sight those many years ago. Thieves had caught them in the night and when my aunt heard of it, she threw me out on the streets.

To be a street rat.

But what mother had said – that if you wanted something enough, you'd get it – that has stuck with me forever. As proof of it, I was crouching in the shadow of a dark alley, close to the market square. I rolled around the small knife in my hand absently as I watched the man I knew as Amar unload his wagon of bags full of apples and place them at his usual stall.

The man was one of the duller sorts. I had been stealing apples from him for a few months, now, and he didn't seem to notice that a marked amount of his goods had gone missing. Silly man. I had called him an Id-face a few times but my best friend, Aladdin, would have nothing of it. He would always tell me not to be mean to the man who supplies us "street rats" of our main stock of apples – no matter how unwillingly it was.

Aladdin really was a killjoy at times. But he was my friend, I guess, so I had to deal with him.

Amar's back was turned as he busily started talking to his first customer for the morning. He was saying the same, old thing. "Best apples in Agrabah. Even the Sultan has said so." Which was an outright lie, obviously, because the Sultan never really came out of his palace. Him and the mysterious princess of his who was turning eighteen soon and would have to marry. Of course, they were making a big deal out of it by holding a festival that was for "_everybody in Agrabah_" but to me, was just a way to impress the many princes that were coming to ask for the hand of the lovely princess _they had never even met_.

But of course, I wasn't the princess so I did not really to care. Good thing I wasn't a snobby princess like her. Good thing I was me – Karin the awesome possum street kid.

Karin the awesome possum street kid who was about to get herself a nice bag full of awesome possum apples.

I moved out of the shadows with expert stealth. The streets were only just getting busier as merchants guided camels laden with bags of goods or drove wagons with their horses. The amount of bustle made it easier for me to blend into the business and walk casually past Amar and towards the wagon that he had only half unloaded. At the same moment I had cut cleanly through a sack to let the apples fall out slowly, I had opened my own small bag which I stowed at my belt. Six apples rolled out of the sack in just a matter of moments before I closed my bag, tucked it into my loose pants legs and continued to walk casually down the street.

After eleven years of repeating this very task, I considered myself quite an expert. No one would be able to notice my stealthy thievery – not a single person.

"Nice job there. How many apples did you bag? Five?"

_Waah_. I mentally whined to myself. Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating my super spy skills a little bit. Just a _little_ bit, of course.

Due to the fact that he had kind of killed my moment of triumph, I proceeded to glare at him, touching the bag of apples in my pants protectively with hand.

"_Six_, dumbhead." I snapped, shooting him an evil glare.

The dumbhead did the same thing he always did in response to my angry glares. He shrugged. One thing that I had to give the dumbhead credit for was the fact that he knew incredibly well how to irritate me. I had absolutely no idea why because I was absolutely _not_ a predictable person. I mean no, of course not.

"You are _so_ predictable, Karin."

_Waah_. So the dumbhead could read my mind now? I cringed. _Waah_, what did he want from me?

He was grinning. That was another thing about the dumbhead that absolutely infuriated me. He had the most perfect, straight, white teeth for a street kid. That would only mean that whenever he smiled contentedly – as he was doing at that moment – it made his smile somewhat shining.

Dumbhead.

"Karin, you can stop calling me 'dumbhead' in your mind now, okay? Wow, you really have to stop that habit of talking to yourself. You _do_ know that talking to yourself kind of shows that you're a bit…" He twirled a finger at the side of his head and crossed his eyes.

I shot him another glare as he continued to look like a crazy person. "So yes, I _do_ call you dumbhead in my head. What do you want with me? And _stop_ acting as if you know everything about me, Aladdin, coz you _don't_."

My last sentence caused him to stop twirling his finger. He looked straight at me before he did the thing which made me want to kick him most. His lips curved up in a crooked smile.

We were looking into each other's eyes for a moment – his own dark eyes reflecting my face which, I could see, looked slightly shocked. A second later, he had looked away and pulled at his old, purple vest and continued to strut down the street as if he owned the whole thing.

"I _am_ your best friend, Karin. If I didn't know you well, I think I'd been fired from best friendness, don't you?"

I huffed at his conceitedness. He only continued to talk.

"…and _because_ we're best friends and all…could I have an apple?"

Before I could even open my mouth, he had made a move towards me with outstretched hands. I widened my eyes and took a step back, both hands holding the bag of apples tightly at my leg.

"Go steal your _own_ food."

He was stilling smiling. "I did…" He rubbed the back of his head with a hand, ruffling his dark hair up so that it pushed his red hat further forward on his head. "…it's just that I saw some of the kids outside the market square and they looked so hungry…"

-"and so you gave them your food and now, _you're_ the one who's hungry." I said knowingly.

He nodded slowly, a small smile on his face.

With a sigh, I looked around to see that we were a fair distance away from Amar and his wagon of apples before pulling out my booty. I slowly pulled out one apple and placed it in Aladdin's outstretched hand. His hand was large enough to clasp around the whole apple so that I could only see patches of red.

Staring at the apple, I suddenly remember something. I reached back into my bag and pulled out another apple.

"And for Abu? Where is he, anyway? I bet he's angry at you for giving up your food. And let me guess…you forced him to do it too, right?"

Aladdin looked around sheepishly before nodding. He then shrugged, taking the other apple I was holding out.

"I left him to sulk at my place. He'll get over it, don't worry." He stared at the two apples in both his hands and then, to no surprise, started juggling them.

The man was crazy.

"So you came out to get some food? Or to get food from me?" I asked him accusingly.

"Hmmm…a little bit of"-

Suddenly, I was pushed against Aladdin by a large, warm force. Gasping, I looked up at Aladdin to see that he was glaring angrily at the person behind me. I turned around to see that it was a tall man dressed in foreign silks of gold and red. Freakishly of all was the shimmering, golden cape that he had thrust behind him, making him look like some sort of crazy bird.

Despite all his splendour, he had the most ridiculous look on his tanned face. A face that could very well have been handsome was scarred by a look of pure disgust as he stared down at both myself and Aladdin.

"Get away from me, _street rats_ and have your dirty nonsense _away_ from the clean streets of Agrabah. If your Sultan knew of such disgusting filth on his streets, I am sure he would have you _all_ executed." As he spoke, his eyes were so widely open that I could see a vein throbbing in one of them. When he had finished his self-righteous speech, he turned around with a flare of his cape and grasped the rein of his white horse more tightly, guiding it through the thickening crowd. Whilst he was still in hearing's distance, he muttered, "man caressing man on the streets. What has happened to this world?"

I must say. _That_ cracked me up.

I was only able to stay silent for a few seconds before I let a loud laugh escape from my mouth. I was obviously not the only one who found that funny because Aladdin was shaking like crazy beside me. Turning up to look at him, I saw that he had his large, radiant grin once again as he watched the back of both the rich foreigner and his steed.

"Good to know that I look like a man." I said between laughs.

The rims of Aladdin's eyes were wrinkled from humour when he looked down at me. "I always said you were a manbeast."

"_That's_ coz I could beat your face in." I said triumphantly.

"You wish." Was Aladdin's response.

I glanced up at him, slightly confused. His tone had changed. Many years of being with him made it easy for me to know when Aladdin was about to say something serious. This was one of those moments. Aladdin was a kid at most times, playing with his monkey friend, Abu and hanging out on the streets just to annoy the guards. His vast list of hobbies included annoying evil shopkeepers, annoying the street guards, annoying me, hanging out with Abu and the other street kids and being a hero for the young and oppressed. Not surprisingly, he was very popular to the common people and hated to the upper-class. But no matter how others thought of him, to me, he would always be a dumbhead.

No, just kidding. Well, besides him being a dumbhead, Aladdin was my best friend. And to me, he would always be that weirdo I had first met when I had been thrown onto the streets by my aunt who was fed up with having another mouth to feed. I had been wandering the streets for about two days, lost and cold. Hungry and feet covered in blisters, I had stopped in a deserted alley to cry. That was when I had met him – all three and a half feet of him.

He was holding a loaf of fresh bread in his hands. The smell was so pungent that it made my stomach respond in ways I had never known possible. He had shot me that smile on his chubby face – the same smile he still had on his less chubby, more angular and strong face. He had then broken the bread and looked at the two uneven pieces before giving me the bigger one. He had then sat down beside me and said his first words to me. "Are you a _girl_? Because you're in a dress but your hair's so short."

And that was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Of course, over the past years, Aladdin did change from the sweet, chubby little boy who thought it was okay to ask strangers what gender they were when it should have been obvious. Over the years, he had gotten a monkey friend and had grown taller than me. A lot of the daughters of shopkeepers had also liked him, showing that Aladdin had grown into some sort of a 'good-looking man'.

I observed the taut muscles on his bare arms and his flat chest before looking up to his face which seemed to radiate friendliness and strength both at once. His dark hair tended to droop across his left eye – as it was doing at that moment – concealing his large, dark eyes that seemed to speak volumes about how he felt.

I realised I had been staring at him a bit too long when he raised his eyebrows and blinked at me.

"Are you okay, Karin?" He sounded serious.

"I'm"- I cleared my throat. Why did it suddenly seem so tight? "I'm fine, Aladdin. But what about _you_? Is something the matter? …something tells me that you're here not only because you want to take some of my food away."

Aladdin tightened his lips and he looked down at the ground, eyebrows furrowed. He did not look back up at me as he said, "Yeah…there's something wrong, Karin." His frown deepened. "…Friah is sick…Zar told me…and I saw her and it's obvious that she needs a medicine man to help her. Some herbs or something…might do…might do the trick." Aladdin finally looked back up at me and I was shocked to see actual pain in his dark eyes. "Besides Zar, Friah has four other small children who would have no home, food and mother if she were gone. You know what it's like being a…_street rat_…and I don't want that to happen to her children. We _have_ to help her."

I squared my shoulders, understanding what Aladdin was asking. I should have guessed – it was only something like this which would cause Aladdin so much grief. I knew how much he detested how people treated people like us – even children. And I knew how much he believed young children should _not_ be wandering the streets, being forced to fend for ourselves…even though we were. Through the years that I had known him, Aladdin seemed to be constantly doing everything in his power to make a difference to the poorer people of Agrabah – and this case was no exception.

Jaw set, I looked at Aladdin. "Okay. We can work together to steal some jewellery from the Goldsmith's…or the potter…I'm sure that if we planned it carefully enough…"

-"No, Karin."

"What?" Was my immediate response to Aladdin's sudden firmness.

"We can't risk it. We've never tried to steal anything besides food and simple clothes before. We can't risk having our hands chopped off or being thrown into the palace dungeon."

I gaped at him. What was he _saying_??

"But then what _else_ can we do?!" I exclaimed in exasperation.

Just by the look on his face, I felt a sense of dread. He was about to suggest something. And that something, I knew, was something I would not particularly like…or agree to.

What was wrong with the dumbhead? Did he _want_ to kill me for no reason??

Aladdin sighed. He rubbed the back of his head and pursed his lips.

"You know how the Sultan is holding a festival in honour of the Princess Jasmine's eighteenth birthday?"

"Yes…" I said slowly.

"Well…I have heard that the biggest event in the festival is a knife-fighting competition with a prize of one hundred gold pieces…that is _more_ than enough to help Friah"-

-"Freaking _dang_, Aladdin! We're _street kids_, not _knife-fighters_! _Dang it_, you don't even _like_ using knives!!"

"I don't," Aladdin said evenly, "But…you _do_…and you"-

-"do you have a death wish on me, Aladdin? Have I done something against you so that you would want me dead? If I have, please tell me, dumbhead, so we can settle it man-to-man!" I yelled, taking a few steps away from him. Some best friend _he_ was! I was absolutely appalled. The moment a kid was in danger of becoming a street kid, suddenly he wouldn't mind getting his friend killed if it meant some hope of helping the kid.

Some friend _he_ was.

Dumbhead.

Aladdin rolled his eyes and threw his head up in the air. He clenched his fists and then looked back down at me. "But you're really _good_ with the knife, Karin!! You've been training with Lieve for _years_! You can beat _him_ in a knife-fight now, for goodness sake! It's not a competition to kill, anyway. Just first draw of blood! It's the best chance we have, Karin! And if it doesn't work, we can always think of something else. Come _on_, Karin, it's just a friendly competition!"

He was using that face. The one where he would open his eyes very widely and look at me with trembling lips and hands clasped together in front of him in a kind of childish beg. No matter how childish it was, though, it was working.

"Okay."

_Freaking dang_. That dumbhead knew how to make me do his bidding.

Aladdin grinned. "Thank you _so_ much, Karin. You know that I _would_ do it myself, except I've always been better with my fists than the knife." He examined his fists. "Man fight with fists as opposed to weapons anyway." He told his fists.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Keep talking and I won't do it anymore."

He smiled at me apologetically. "Really, Karin, thank you. I _will_ find out if there is anymore competitions that I, myself can enter so that you won't have to do anything. If there is, I would gladly do it. Really, I would."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I muttered.

And then, there it was. That crooked smile again. Something inside me jolted and I efficiently pushed it back down.

"Well, I better go along and make amends with Abu." Aladdin said, pulling out one of the apples he had placed in his pocket whilst he had been begging me. "And thanks again for the apples."

"Anytime, Aladdin." I said tonelessly, annoyed at him from smiling that crooked smile.

If he noticed the lack of enthusiasm, he didn't show it. He started backing away, placing the apple back in is pocket and giving me a final wave.

I turned around and was finally able to let out a long sigh. Finally, I was able to go about my daily routines of getting some more satisfying food and then meeting up with a few other street kids. That dumbhead really knew how to mess up my morning and mess with my head.

"Hey!"

I turned back when he called me.

"Stop calling me dumbhead in your head, okay?"

I shot him an annoyed look to which he responded with a cheerful laugh.

Remind me again why I agreed to do him such a large favour? The moment I thought this, the memory of the way he looked at me when he talked about Friah and her four children came to mind, along with that crooked smile…

I shuddered. What was _wrong_ with me?


	3. Knifewielder

**-Chapter Two: Knife-wielder-**

My breathing was erratic, heart thumping so strongly that I feared it might come bursting forth at any moment. My muscles were burning from the heat of the scorching sun coupled with the rapid movement that I forced my arms to make. I was deaf to everything except my beating heart and the rapid pants of the foe before me.

It did not matter how large or strong he was. In the art of knife-fighting, it was agility and skill that mattered. That was what Lieve had told me.

Sweat was trailing down my cheek. I moved the slightest of my cheek muscles to try to push the droplet away from my eyes. I hated that it was also so hot in the mornings of Agrabah. Knife-fighting should always only be done at night.

But of course, those used to living painless, rich lives would not know this.

His arm muscle tensed. He had seen my face twitch and was ready to pounce.

I would not let him.

Where sword fights were filled with shouting and curses on the opponent's life and his mother's life, knife-fighting was different. If one could compare the roar of a lion to the swoop of an eagle, this was what knife-fighting was when compared to sword-fighting. Swords boasted strength and prowess, making loud noises at every contact of metal with metal. There would be grunts accompanied by the screams of the excited crowd. The victor would emerge from the heated battle with a mighty roar of triumph.

In knife-fighting, the wielder would step in and then back out as silently as a shadow. One moment he would be there, and the next, gone. The knife barely visible, it would make graceful flashes in quick arcs before disappearing again in the wielder's hand. There would be no talk, no grunt and no show of great, manly strength.

When sword-fighting, you'd know when you were losing.

When knife-fighting…

I crossed away from his sudden thrust, brought my knife up and curved it toward my opponent's arm so that his own attacking slice caused my blade to cut through his skin.

"…you wouldn't know what hit you." I murmured, watching as the man stared obliviously at me for a moment and then down at his arm as the fresh cut beaded out blood.

The moment my knife had hit flesh, the trance had been broken. I was able to hear again and what I did hear was the loud roar of excitement at my third consecutive victory. It was interesting how crowds could so willingly support a person they didn't even know just because they kept winning. In so many ways, people reminded me of camels. Just follow each other in the caravan across the desert into the sandstorm.

Follow, people. Follow blindly, I say.

Id-faces.

"And Korin of Agrabah has won again!" Out of nowhere pranced a small man wearing an incredibly large turban. So large, in fact, that in the middle of his prancing, the cloth had slipped down so that it covered one of his eyes completely.

The small man did not seem to notice as he wrapped his hands together with excitement and pointed to me.

"Korin has successfully defeated Parath of Agrabah and shall fight tomorrow at noon." He was grinning at me, as if I were some magnificent prize. Of course, this just worked to freak me out. "Remember that the winner of the Sultan's knife-fighting competition will win one hundred gold pieces, presented to him by the Sultan himself."

It seemed that everybody found this news more exciting than I did. I grimly watched the bustle that surrounded that square dirt patch that was the fighting ground. People had flocked by the hundreds to watch me fight and were now looking at me with a freakish degree of awe. I absolutely hated people who acted like camels and now, all the camels' attentions were on me.

Remind me _why_ I was doing this again?

As if something somewhere had heard the question in my head, there was a distinct shout from the crowd. It was really as if he did not care of inconspicuousness at all because there he was, climbing up onto the second-floor balcony of one of the houses lining the market square streets with Abu on his shoulder. It was Abu, in fact, who was making those distinctive shouts as he raised his fists excitedly at me. I swear, that monkey actually spoke human. Sometimes I even thought the monkey was _smarter_ than most humans.

"Korin?"

By the way he called me, I knew that he had been repeating my fake name many times. Remind me again…_why_ did I agree to a fake name which was basically the same as my real name? Oh yeah, because only _men_ were allowed into the competition and Aladdin said that my name was too girly. Girly Schmirly. Wasn't I proof that women could be as good with the knife as any man?

I gave him a questioning look. I barely spoke to the people running the competition as I was quite aware that, even though I passed off as a man due to my short hair, clothes and fighting abilities, no way did I really sound like a man.

The short, prancing man had an odd look on his face. Where his default expression seemed to be that of a travelling performer, it was now replaced by a deep-set brow and trouble clouding his smallish, dark eyes. If I was correct…he even seemed a tad frightened. I would have liked to say that he was frightened of me – as most people _should _be, of course – but some tingling feeling inside me told me that it was something more.

"I like you, Korin." I would have smirked at what he had just said, but the way it was spoken only completely silenced me. "And so I feel…_compelled_ to tell you to be careful of your next opponent. He's…different to the others. He's a foreigner, you see…"

I put a hand in front of his face, realising what he was saying. The man was the same with every other man in Agrabah these days. So many foreigners had come to Agrabah to seek the Princess Jasmine's hand that suddenly, every foreigner was after nothing but our money and our kingdom. The man was barely concerned for the welfare of _Korin of Agrabah_, no. He was just concerned for Agrabah itself.

"I will be fine." Those four words I said in a low, forceful voice before turning around and walking away from the knife-fighting ground.

Like magic, the crowd that were still talking excitedly amongst each other, silenced before parting for me. It was suddenly so silent that I could hear the scuffing of my feet against the dirt on the streets. Somewhere in the distance, a child called for his mother,

_Awk_-weird. So _this_ was what it was like to be a street performer, minus the excited applause. Actually, this was actually what it was like walking amongst dead people…who could see me…

Shush, Karin, that's crazy talk.

Stop talking to yourself, Karin.

_Waaah_, I was starting to sound like _Aladdin_! That crazy kid.

Thinking about Aladdin…

I glanced up towards Aladdin to see that he was still sitting at the balcony with Abu on his shoulder. Both were watching me with the same revered silence as the rest of the crowd – Abu with a neutral look on his furry face and Aladdin with that smirk.

I could have stabbed him there and then. This was all _his_ fault, after all.

Finally, I was reaching the end of the long path. When I had gotten through it, the crowd burst into chatter once again. They really _were_ like a flock of conforming animals. I shuddered.

Aladdin was staring down at me with that same smirk when I reached the bottom floor of the building he was lounging at. I shot him a glare before climbing gingerly up a nearby tree and hopping from that tree to the balcony. Climbing, like stealing, was second-nature to street kids.

"You've gotten better."

He had his arms folded across his chest, causing his lean biceps to bulge. I blinked. Why I noticed these things, I did not know. I shook my head in attempts to shake out those crazy thoughts.

"Anything the matter, Karin?"

"Yep." I answered just a little too quickly.

He watched me quizzically as he continued to lean against the wall of the house. He was always like this. Calm and acting totally mature when we both knew full well that he wasn't. It was as if he _liked_ annoying me by acting like a _mature_ person just because I hated it. That dumbface.

"What's that, Abu?" Aladdin suddenly asked Abu when it was obvious Abu had not said or done anything. Abu blinked back at Aladdin before raising his hands up in the air, looking as confused as I was.

"Yeah," Aladdin continued, ignoring the fact that nobody knew what in the world he was talking about. "Yeah, I _do_ think Karin's calling me a dumbface in her head again." He said to Abu before turning to look meaningfully at me.

I glared at him. "Shut up."

He grinned at me.

I gritted my teeth. "Do you really _want_ to be stabbed, Aladdin? Because I have a knife, you know"-

-"yes, I know. You tell me this practically everyday. And now I even get to _watch_ you do it three days in a row…hey, look. I think you're even building a fanclub."

I turned to look at where he was nodding to see a small boy waving a wooden knife at me.

"I want to be exactly like _you_, Korin!" He yelled. "Smash, smash, bang!" He thrust his knife around, slicing at an imaginary opponent.

"Looks like you're getting even children to become violent." Aladdin observed.

I pouted. "Oh, wait a second. Let me think. Was any of this _my_ idea? Oh wait…_no_! Hey, don't laugh!" I shouted as Aladdin's shoulders started to shake to the annoyance of Abu who jumped off his shoulder and climbed onto mine instead. "Oh, oh wait. What did you say, Abu?" Abu, used to our arguments, just let out a sigh. "Oh yeah, Aladdin _is_ a liar."

This efficiently stopped Aladdin's laughter.

"What? Am _I_ a liar?" He questioned.

"Because you told me that you'd find a way to help Friah out yourself and you _didn't_!"

"I've been trying to! You, out of all people know it's not that easy. We can't even find work because everybody just thinks of us as _street rats_." Aladdin narrowed his eyes, staring angrily at the ground. "That's why I asked you to help in the first place. I _know_ it's a sacrifice for you to be the centre of attention, but these children _can't_lose their mother or they'll become…"

-"become _what_, Aladdin? Become like _us_? Is that it?" I looked up at the sky in frustration. "Tell me, Aladdin. What's so _wrong_ about being who we are?"

"Maybe because wherever we go, people spit at us. Maybe because street guards are always chasing us and we know that we'll be forever a _street rat_. Because everybody judges us by the life we have been forced to live instead of who we are…" Aladdin sighed. He looked to the ground and then back up at me. I must admit, I was a little taken back by the degree of sorrow that was burning in his wide, dark eyes. "…who we are in here." He pounded at his chest.

It hurt. I knew that Aladdin struggled a lot with this issue because he had always felt that he was trapped in this world of social hierarchy. In Agrabah, the rich would always be rich and the poor, poor. The two would not intermingle and the rich would certainly not think of the poor as any more than…dirt underfoot. The poor would have no opportunities to spread their wings and fly, no matter how talented or good they were. The only times we would even speak to each other were in festivals like this.

And I _knew_ that what really pained Aladdin was not so much the fact that he, himself was trapped in this cycle but more so the poor children who lost their parents or were thrown out on the street like I was. He had such a wish that the children would not have to go through what we do…

…but it still hurt. Because one would think that…well…that my being his friend would ease his suffering by even just a little bit. Had we not gone through so much together? No matter how much I kept threatening to stab him, he really was my closest friend and I did not know what I would have done without him.

"It's not all that bad." I murmured, unsure of what else to say.

Beside me, Abu was staring at my face before touching at my cheek gently. The fur on his hands tickled and I looked at him to smile. Abu made a sound and then touched my cheek again.

It was then that I realised that he was not just touching my cheek. He was touching tears as well. And obviously, Aladdin had noticed. Because when I turned to look at him, he was staring at me.

_Dang it_. Don't get me wrong, I've cried five thousand times in front of Aladdin – but those times it was crying over things like my parents dying and my aunt through me onto the streets. Or when the guards had chased me for so long and I had been so scared. Those times, Aladdin had wrapped his long arms around me and told me that he was there for more and that everything would be okay.

But this time it was different. Because this time…I wasn't crying about things of the past or things about being a 'street rat'. This time, the person who had told me so often that everything would be okay was the same person who had caused me to start crying.

And _why_ he was crying I didn't even really know. Why _was_ I crying over such a silly thing, anyway? Just because Aladdin was going through one of his moments of wishing people would see us street kids as who we were inside as opposed to what circumstances had forced us to become. Gosh, Aladdin did this _all_ the time. Why was I crying now? _Why_?

The way Aladdin was looking at me, he seemed to be wondering the exact same thing.

Awkwardly, he moved forward and put a hand on my free shoulder.

Abu said something to Aladdin before jumping from my shoulder, back to Aladdin's.

"Abu wants to know what's wrong." Aladdin said gently. "And…if he could do anything to help out."

I sniffed and wiped at my cheeks. "Tell Abu that it was only two tears and that I'm fine." I could not look into his eyes when I said this. Why was I such a bad liar?

"Look into my eyes and tell me what's really the matter." He was speaking more firmly.

I did not listen to him, choosing to stare at the purple cloth of his vest instead.

His warm fingers touched my chin and gently pulled my head up so that I was looking straight into his eyes. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I had not realised how close we were now standing.

I watched as his crooked smile caused his cheeks to dimple and his eyes twinkle. I took in a deep breath only to smell the scent of musky cloth that he kept in his makeshift home at the top of a rundown building.

"I'm sorry if I pushed you to do something you didn't want to do." He said, voice surprisingly rough. "I guess I could get so…obsessed with helping others out that I could completely forget about the wellbeing of my best friend." He pursed his lips. "I'm sorry."

I was shaken by his sincerity. We did joke so many times and I had called him dumbhead in my head and out loud as many as five times five thousand times. But we had barely been as serious to each other as we were right now. And to be honest…this frightened me.

I took a step back. This was all I could do to stop myself from collapsing due to my weakening legs.

"You shouldn't have pushed me…" I said slowly, "but I wouldn't want the children to become street rats either."

At least he thought I was upset because of the stupid knife-fighting competition instead of the fact that he did not seem to treasure our friendship as much as being set free from this cyclic life.

"And I _am_ fine." I continued. "Really, I am. I _have_ been winning, after all. And all these arrogant men are much easier than I had first thought."

"Don't get proud, Karin." Aladdin warned, the anxious tone in his voice gone. "The worst is yet to come."

I waved a hand dismissively at him. "It's not knives I am scared of, dumbhead. It's the popularity. I mean…I know that I _am_ awesome and all…but they don't have to like me just because it's the thing to do."

He was staring at me. I wasn't quite sure if he was doing it on purpose or because he was just thinking of something and happened to be staring at me. Whatever reason it was, it was starting to make me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

I gulped. "Don't stare at me," I said forcefully, "you know I hate it when people stare at me."

He blinked and shook his head. He looked away from me and let out a small laugh whilst rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Yeah, I know you hate it. Sorry, I didn't realise. I was just thinking…it's incredible how different we are. You hate it if people pay too much attention to you if it's just for the sake of conformism. You want to be different and you want people to _see_ you as different." He shrugged. "And I…just want to fit in and have people see that there's more to me than just being a _street_ rat."

I narrowed my eyes, inwardly feeling my heart fall. Here it was again. Him completely not understanding how I felt.

"Well, Aladdin, if it makes you feel better…_I_ see you as more than just a street rat." I should have said it more encouraging, but I couldn't help sounding sour. What did he want from me, anyway? It's always hard when your best friend doesn't seem to really appreciate you.

It seemed that Abu had exactly the same sentiment as I did because he started making pained sounds right into Aladdin's ear, making him yell out and glare at Abu.

"Okay, okay, Abu. I'm _sorry_. You _are_ my friend and I'm glad for it." He grinned and suddenly grabbed Abu from his shoulder and hugged him to his chest with one hand. He then rubbed furiously at Abu's head with his other hand, making his hat fall off his head.

Abu screamed in protest, making noises that sounded quite like '_Aladdin_!' before Aladdin finally let Abu go, laughing furiously.

Abu, not very impressed by Aladdin's burst of childish behaviour, jumped onto the tree near the balcony and sat there, proceeding to pout at the both of us.

"Gee." Aladdin said, grinning at Abu whilst his friend continued to glare at him. Aladdin then laughed again and rubbed the back of his head. He then closed his eyes, sighed before looking back at me. "I _am_ sorry, Karin. Ha – I seem to be doing so many wrong things these days."

"Naahh, I'm used to it." I said, folding my arms across my chest. I stared across the rows of buildings that made Agrabah before observing, "You _are_ a dumbhead after all."

I shot a sideward glance at him and saw that he was smiling.

"_What_?"

He grinned, a hand behind his back. "I _have_ been thinking of how I could help out as well…and so I got this." When he said 'this', he pulled out a beautiful knife from his back. He then took two steps to stand in front of me. With a flourish, he went on one knee, bent his head down and presented the knife up to me in two hands as a servant would have done to his king when presenting a sword.

A laughed at his actions. "Why, thank you, slave." I said before taking the knife from his hand, surprised by how lightweight the beautifully decorated hilt could be.

Slicing it in the air, I could almost hear the metal slicing through air.

"Please don't tell me you risked your neck stealing this." I said, looking up from the knife to his face.

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter how I got it. Do you like it?"

"Of course I do." I said with a grin. "Thanks."

"No problem." He said with another shrug. "I also had another idea."

"You're full of ideas today, aren't you?" I questioned sarcastically.

"Aren't I always?" He asked.

I had to admit…that dumbhead was right.

"Well…I thought that I"-

Out of nowhere, a broom came crashing at his head. He was fast enough to duck and turn to see an old woman with crazy eyes.

"Get _off my balcony_, _street rats_!!" She yelled, brandishing the broom and threatening for another swoop.

Used to such reactions to us, we only laughed and jumped from the balcony to the tree near it and then jumped from the tree to the ground. Abu, who seemed to be calmed down from his annoyance at Aladdin's head-rubbing, climbed down the tree and up onto Aladdin's shoulder.

The old woman was still shouting names at us when we turned away and started walking down the busy street again.

As was normal in Agrabah, noon was the hottest time of the day. Noon meant the sun was right above our heads and scorching angrily down on everything. The fact that the streets were made of polished stone did not help as the stones would heat up instantly and cause walking barefoot incredibly difficult. Having grown quite accustomed to the heat, it made things easier, but it still hurt. To cope better with this, Aladdin and I would usually jump up onto the mud-brick rooves of houses instead.

Doing this at the moment, though, was incredibly difficult seeing as how the streets were so packed from foreigners coming to enjoy the Princess's eighteenth birthday celebrations.

What a spoilt brat.

And no, I was _not_ bitter.

_Waah_, I was talking to myself again. _Waah_.

Holy moly, I really head to stop whining to myself.

_Waah_, I was talking to myself again.

_Waah_.

For once, Aladdin did not seem to pick up that I was talking to myself. Instead, he watched the crowds around us thoughtfully. He frowned and then turned to me.

"Hey, Karin. That idea that I had…"

It seemed that I was never to hear that other idea because the moment he was about to tell me, something silken and large collided into me, causing me to fall down to the hot ground with a painful thud. Angry that I had lost my balance and even angrier at the Id-face who made me fall, I glared up at whoever it was and my jaw dropped.

What do you know, it was _the_ id-face again.

He wasn't wearing the golden cape this time. Instead, he just wore his silken, red shirt that had an odd collar on it which made his shoulders look wider and stronger. His pants were not baggy and white like normal Agrabah attire but rather, were a little tighter and black. Around his waist was a leather belt. As we usually used cloth as belts in Agrabah, I had never seen a leather belt, although I had heard of it a few times. The belt seemed strong and sturdy, supporting the array of knives and the one sword that he had attached to it. Attached to it, I noticed too, was a bag that was obviously laden with many pieces of gold.

Tall and rich id-face, sure. But not very smart, _was_ he?

I made sure that it looked like I was staring at his chest and not his bag of gold. Maybe I did not have to go into the knife-fighting competition anymore. Maybe just steal this man's whole bag of foreign gold and help Friah in that way.

Maybe _that_ was Aladdin's new idea. Just go and spy on and then steal the gold from a rich foreigner. What a brilliant idea. Well done, Aladdin.

He was glaring down at me as I stared at his chest. When I made to stand up, the man took a step back and barked, "If you plan to steal my gold from me, _boy_, think again. I don't take thievery lightly. You may lose your hand here, but where I come from, you lose _far_ more than just a hand."

His voice was low and commanding although surprisingly smooth. Smooth and incredibly proud.

But how he knew I was thinking of stealing from him, I had no idea. Maybe just paranoia that every street kid like me would want to steal from an id-face like _him_.

I was on my feet and I crossed my arms across my chest. About to tell him exactly what I thought of him, I felt a hand at my elbow. I turned to look right into Aladdin's face, eyes full of concern.

"Let's go, Karin." He murmured. "Last thing we want is for the street guards to chase us again."

"How _is_ it that a man with such skill with the knife could love men?" The id-face thought out loud.

His blood would be mine today.

I moved away from Aladdin and pulled out my knife. "_Firstly_, just because I live on the streets, it does not mean that I'd want to steal from id-faces like _you_." Although I would gladly do so _now_ – after you are dead, that is. "_Secondly_, there is nothing wrong with me loving a man because I am _not-a-man_!!!" I yelled.

I realised what I had just said too late. My eyes widened and I stared at him as his face reflected shock.

Oh why, oh _why_ did I have such a _large_ mouth??

"I mean…"

"Well, _that_ explains many things." The id-face said quietly, dark green eyes never leaving my face.

Suddenly, Aladdin was between both of us.

"Please leave us alone." Aladdin's voice sounded surprisingly lower than it usually did. "We have never hurt anybody and never would. We have been forced to live this life – we did not choose it. So please leave both of us be and get on with your own life."

He did not wait for the id-face to respond. He immediately turned me around and walked me away from the man with such speed, I almost fell over again.

"Aladdin…argh…what are you doing??" I struggled against his iron grasp around my arms.

"Just keep walking." He said fiercely. "Men like that should never know that you're a girl."

"_Why_?" I questioned. "You know I could beat him up. You know I can beat _you_ up."

Aladdin scoffed. "I just don't want you to get hurt, okay? Remember what happened last time when"-

I finally slipped out of his grasp and spun around to glare at him.

-"that was a long time ago, Aladdin. Stop torturing yourself over that because it's _not your fault_. So could you _please_ stop acting like my father because you're no"-

I jumped at the touch of a warm hand to my back. Spinning around, I saw the person I had least expected.

It was the weird, prancing man from the knife-competition. I looked at him quizzically. Why was he here?

"Korin. I'm so glad I found you, Korin." He sounded…worried.

"What is it?" I asked, a tad rudely.

"It seems to me that you've met the prince." He suddenly said, looking past me.

I turned around to where he was looking at but only saw the crowds of market people and the top of the id-faces head.

"Who?" I asked.

"The man I saw you talking to before. He's Prince Braden of Lachonica. He's your next opponent in the knife-fighting competition."

"_What_?" Both Aladdin and I said at once.

Staring at the prancing man, I felt my heart dropping.

No way…no…_way_. What were the _chances_? And why did I go _telling_ him I was a girl? He was going to report me for sure!!!

_Waah_!

The prancing man did not seem to realise I was killing myself inside, as he continued to speak.

"I don't think you realised that I was warning you after your fight before just how serious the situation is. Prince Braden is seeking the hand of the Princess Jasmine – he's one of the suitors. The sultan favours the prince and is determined that the princess takes him. The prince is in the competition partially to show his strength and courage to the princess. It seems that he will be stopped by nothing. Already, many have been injured. I hate to say it, but I know that you…and _only_ you would be able to stop him before he goes on to hurt someone else."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised to hear this.

So…the pretty prince was after the princess. A violent, desperate one at that. I should have only expected as much from the Id-face. The id-face who would lose a sorry battle tomorrow.

Fingering the knife that Aladdin had given me absently in my hand, I smiled dryly at the prancing man.

"Have no fear, sir. His violence and desperation stops with me."

The man looked pleased but when I glanced at Aladdin, I saw that his face was full of concern.


End file.
